Un niño nos es naçido – An Iberian Christmas
The Renaissance Singers, David Allinson
St Sepulchre-without-Newgate (Holy Sepulchre), 13 December 2025

J.G de Padilla Christus Natus Est
C. de Morales Sancta et immaculata virginitas
F. Guerrero Missa Sancta et immaculata
C. de Morales Ave Maria, gratia plena

T.L. de Victoria Ecce Dominus veniet
R. de Ceballos O Virgo Benedicta
A. de Silva Alma redemptoris Mater
P. Ruimonte Luna que reluces
F. Guerrero Al resplandor de una estrella; Niño Dios d’amor herido; Alma mirad vuestro Dios
Diego José de Salazar ¡Salga el torillo hosquillo!

This imaginative programme from the always excellent Renaissance Singers aimed “to dispel the cynicism of modern Christmastide with a mixture of superb motets, mass music and villancicos drawn from the Spanish golden age”. Most of the music was based on musicians of Seville’s Cathedral, Santa Maria de la Sede, notably the composer Cristóbal de Morales and his pupil Francisco Guerrero, whose Missa Sancta et immaculata was the focus of the first half of the concert.

The evening started with the choir at the back of the large church with Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla’s Christus Natus Est, a short harmonised chorale-like chant for the office of Matins on Christmas Day. Moving to the front, they then sang Sancta et immaculata virginitas by Cristóbal de Morales, with its distinctive downward interval of a 5th at the start. This was the piece that Francisco Guerrero based his Missa Sancta et immaculata on, although the 5th interval did not appear until after the opening Kyrie section. The Missa Sancta et immaculata comes from the 1566 collection of Masses. Guerrero expands Morales’s original four-part texture to include a second soprano line in the Sanctus and an additional bass in the Agnes Dei. The four sections of the Mass (the Credo was omitted) were characterised by a rich texture of condensed counterpoint with frequent overlapping vocal entries. I liked the fact that the 23 singers were integrated with each other, rather than being grouped into separate voice types, giving a wonderfully cohesive texture.

The second half started with Victoria’s powerful Ecce Dominus veniet followed by motets celebrating the mother of Jesus. Rodrigo de Ceballos’s touching O Virgo Benedicta and an extended setting of Alma Redemptoris Mater by Andreas de Silva, the powerful initial build-up was particularly well handled by the choir.

A lovely theatrical moment came when the choir stepped forward from the shallow staging to stand right in front of the audience. This marked the beginning of music in the Spanish language, rather than Latin, and in an increasingly Spanish style of music, with a selection of villancicos (polyphonic carols), their catchy melodies and dance rhythms “invoking the spirit of fiesta”. It started with Pedro Ruimonte’s gentle homage to the moon and the star of the ‘Kings of the east’, Luna que reluces, a testing piece for the choir, with passages for the separate lower and upper voices. Guerrero’s rhythmically complex Al resplandor de una estrella also referenced the ‘Kings of Orient’, and introduced us to the distinctive Spanish hemiola rhythm (123,123,1-2-3). Another tricky passage, this time for a small group of altos, also passed with distinction. The gentle Niño Dios d’amor herido, also with hemiolas, was in contrast to the powerful Alma mirad vuestro Dios, with its high start as it references the Soul.

The evening concluded in riotous style with Diego José de Salazar’s well-known double choir ¡Salga el torillo hosquillo! (Let the little wild bull out!). The lyrics describe a bull (the Devil/Satan) and the ‘boy child’ (Christ) in the ring. It is a wonderfully dramatic call-and-response piece full of rhythmic flourishes. It was accompanied by a very un-Spanish-sounding organ, standing in until the main church organ, with its 17th-century Thomas Harris case, can be restored.

I have always been impressed with The Renaissance Singers, having known them for many decades. Their current musical director, David Allinson, is an inspirational conductor and choir leader and has clearly built a powerful relationship with the choir. One aspect of his conducting that I particularly liked was his use of a slow tactus beat: the pulse within which Renaissance music operated, whatever the speed of the individual notes within that tactus beat. During this concert, the conducting pulse was slow, about 45 beats per minute, which suited the music well.

As a side note, the church of St Sepulchre-without-Newgate (which now seems to be known as Holy Sepulchre), has had an interesting recent history as far as music and Church of England politics is concerned. Long known as the Musicians’ Church, it included its own musicians’ chapel and several memorials to musicians, including Henry Wood, founder of the Proms, who learnt the organ, and buried, there. However, in 2017, the church was taken over by the controversially evangelical and non-liberal Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) church as one of their ‘plants’. Alongside the HTB opposition to blessings for same-sex couples, they soon banned hirings for musical concerts and rehearsals, to the horror of many musicians and more senior church authorities, including the then Bishop of London. In fact, the last time I was there was as part of a protest group, amid several distinguished musicians. Anyway, it seems that the HTB connection did not last long, and a new Rector is relaunching the church as the Musicians’ Church, and is planning a reconstruction of the organ and developing it as a national centre for organ education, outreach, and innovation (details here).